Carpet Cleaning: Am I expecting too much, or just doing it wrong?

N

nickis

New member
I did my mom's car as a mother's day present a few weeks back, and in addition to making her very happy, it gave me a chance to try out some different techniques. Carpets have always been one of my weak points in detailing, and the carpets in my mom's van were perfect specimens for learning on. Not having the money for an extractor, I read up on GSRstilez's OxyClean method very thoroughly, went out and bought what I needed, and set to work. I used the OxyClean solution suggested, as well as some ancient Woolite "Rug and Upholstery Cleaner" that I dug out from a cabinet as a spot cleaner.

I followed the instructions closely, but no matter how many times I went back to rescrub, I always found my results a little lackluster. I was using a pretty old Bissel for extraction (found the same one on eBay for reference here). I just used it for suction, no hot water because it requires a faucet hookup I don't have available and would just generally be a pain to hook up. Some of the well worn parts of the mats almost seemed to take on a greenish hue as they dried out in the sun. In the end the mats did look a lot better, but I was still disappointed in how they turned out. Fortunately this particular job was for my mom, but I'll be detailing for profit this summer and I personally don't think this job stands up to the expectations most people have when they pay someone to shampoo carpets. I took pictures so I will let you guys judge. Is there something wrong with my process or am I just expecting results miracles from a scrub brush and some OxyClean?

carpet01.jpg
carpet02.jpg
 
That is a a pretty seriously stained mat. Sometimes that amount of neglect cannot be completely reversed. Remember some stains that bad may even have already been "set in" by the owner if they've ever attempted to try to clean them up themselves with certain kinds of cleaners.

I've never been that impressed by Oxyclean. Check out my post in this thread for a cheaper and IMO more effective alternative to soaking your carpets w/water.--http://www.detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=6916&page=2&pp=25&highlight=goop

Another Goop tip is to cover the stain after applying the Goop with plastic wrap or something similar. This will help hold in the active ingredient in Goop and saturate the stain better. The longer it sits on the stain the better it can be removed.
 
that looks like a g.m. floor mat. that came out fairly clean for what you started with. a mat that is worn like that will not come out perfect, especially a light color like gm gray.as far as the greenish tint, i see that all the time, you did nothing to cause that. don't get too frustrated, it looks alot better. you can always get spray balm carpet dye to finish it off if you want.
 
That's a pretty nasty mat to start with. I've used OxyClean and at times it's worked great occasionally it hasn't. I've used a product that doesn't seem to get a lot of discussion. It's called Tuff Stuff (STP product) on mats that appeared equally bad as yours (all stains vary) and the results were very good.This product is in an aerosol and sprays out in a foam. I then take a good stiff white wall brush (wet) and brush it in to the stain, repeat as necessary and remove the moisture. Different stains react differently to different products. If you haven't had great luck with the method you've tried then give another one a shot. You may surprise yourself.
 
I spray the area thoroughly with Oarnge Clean and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I use Dawn Dish Soap (heavy) and a bucket of extremely hot water with a stiff tire brush. I finish up with a powerful Shop Vac to extract.

Dawn is designed to cut grease. I get like new results every time. Jason
 
You can revive the living but you can't bring back the dead. It's frustrating as hell though. I had a truck other day that drive mat looked much like that after. Everything else in the vehicle was perfect.
 
If you were working at home and could go as far as boiling the water would you? Or is regular hot tap water hot enough? The extractors produce water 200 degrees or more, what is the temp of regular hot tap water?
 
Just looked it up, it looks like the boiling point is 212 degrees for lower altitudes. High altitudes actually boil at a lower temp. So I guess it would be okay to boil some water to try to hit the really tough stains.
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I guess I'll just chalk this one up to utterly destroyed mats. I may give it another go with some of the tips you guys have given me if I get the chance, but for now I won't worry about it. My mom was happy with it, good enough for me!
 
I don't think it looks bad at all. With carpets/upholstery it gets to a point where there is only soo much you can do. Some thread get soo matted, worn down, and abused that they will never come clean. A couple secrets I have discovered were:

-Use Hi-Temps Protein Stain Remover (stronger than Oxy)
-Use Folex as a presoak (Target or Lowe's)
-Use HOT water
-Increase dwell time to 10-15 mins
-Rinse with hot water, then extract


Hope this helps.
 
Prestone is an awesome product and it works great on headliners without saturating them. It has removed a lot of unkown stains with ease.
 
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